When SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog was released last year for the Microsoft Xbox 360, it was being touted as the re-birth of one of gaming's most famous characters. The horse power behind this newest generation's hardware was going to give the speedy blue hedgehog an adventure to be proud of, a feat he had not achieved in 3D, arguably, since 1999 with Sonic Adventure on the SEGA Dreamcast.

Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Despite all the hype, the critics trashed Sonic the Hedgehog on a number of fronts including a dodgy camera, annoying graphical glitches, and constant lengthy loading times - and that's just for starters.

Now, the head of the development studio behind the game, Team Sonic, has given an explanation for the proclaimed ‘fastest thing in the world’s’ latest software travesty.

"The reason why probably [we] ended up with what we see today, involves a lot of reasons," began Yojiro Ogawa. "One is that we did want to launch the title around Christmas, and we had the PlayStation 3 launch coming up, but we had to develop for Microsoft's 360 at the same time and the team had an awful lot of pressure on them. It was very hard for the team to try and see how we were going to come out with both versions together with just the one team. It was a big challenge," he explained.

Seems like Ogawa is saying that SEGA was forced to release what was, in essence, an unfinished title to the unsuspecting public. Not the greatest way to earn the trust of the gaming public, is it?

Sonic and the Secret Rings was first shown off by SEGA at E3 last summer. Previously known as Sonic Wild Fire, the Nintendo Wii exclusive has just been released in the US (and is set to hit Europe next month). The game sees, in some terms, a return to Sonic's platforming roots. Players tilt the Wii Remote left and right to guide Sonic as he travels along a fixed, linear path, performing jump attacks and dodging obstacles. Early reviews vary, but the overall consensus seems to be one of a return to the sheer sense of speed that made Sonic special in the first place.